If there is one thing that can be taken as gospel since the Ruben Amaro era began in Philadelphia after the 2008 season, it’s that the wily General Manager plays things as close to the vest as anyone. No matter what he says, he likely means quite the opposite. If Ruben says he fancies himself a glass of lemonade, you can be sure that he’ll soon start chugging sand. Or maybe he was never even thirsty. That’s just how he works – you never really know what the man is thinking.
So, it should come as no surprise that his earlier assertions that the Phillies were a bit too strapped to make a major move, lest they get penalized by MLB’s luxury tax, were likely just smoke and mirrors. It was his ploy to manage expectations.
Added payroll does not appear to be an issue for the Phillies, even though one or two trades could push them above baseball's luxury-tax threshold of $178 million. The team's current payroll, as recognized by Major League Baseball, stands at about $175 million."We do whatever it takes," team president David Montgomery told The Inquirer. "If there's an opportunity, we'll make adjustments."
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